Please help!

[Wolf]

Look for things that may be causing your bird to stress as well and try to reduce that.

[Hookturn]

My vet has been consulting with a specialist in Canada as to how to properly deal
With this. For now he's contuing an oral suspension of the baytril and oral med for the blood sugar. I didn't ask what it's called but my wife is picking up JJ and the mess to bring him home for the next few days. I totally agree about the stress. That's the main reason I want him home. I think it would have been more stressful to sit by himself at the hospital with someone just coming to check on him and administer meds a couple times a day.

It sucks being out of town for all this but I couldn't avoid it.

I don't have a copy of his test results but will get them when I get back next week. I am hoping that as you guys suggested his blood sugar is elevated due to his illness. Hopefully that will resolve itself. I will absolutely have him retested. Thanks again to all of you.

[Pajarita]

Well, problem is, nobody would be able to tell if it's actually diabetes or something else if he takes medication for the sugar BEFORE the infection is resolved. But why is your vet consulting with another vet in Canada? Is it because he can't figure out what is wrong? And, if so, exactly what? The sugar or the infection? And why Canada? Plenty of experts here in America...

[Hookturn]

Just an update. I'm finally back home with JJ. He looks a thousand times better than when I left and his weight has stabilized at about 90 grams. Still a little low but he's slowly gaining weight and again he is lookin and acting more like himself.

He is on three meds now. Baytril, glipizide, and vibramycin. I looked up the mycin drug and it's for gram negative bacterial infections. Haven't talked to the doc yet about why he prescribed it but my guess is there were some positive test results that warranted it.

As for why my vet is consulting with another, he said that he does not have a lot of experience with diabetes in birds and wanted a second opinion. As for why he consulted with a Canadian vet, I don't know. Perhaps he has a prior relationship with him. Also, I do know that vets commonly use a discussion group on the web where they can ask questions of each other on Various topics. I don't remember the name of it but as a vet tech my wife is very familiar with it. Perhaps that's where they hooked up.

I don't have copies of the test results yet but will post them when I get a copy in the next few days. And I did discuss with the doc the possibility of the elevated blood sugar being due to his infection and we will be retesting him of course in the next few days.

Thanks again to all for your help and kind words. It's been a rough week. But hopefully we're on the right track now.

[marie83]

I am so pleased for you that things are looking up

[Harpmaker]

It's good to hear that JJ is improving. Thanks for the update!

[Wolf]

Glad to hear that JJ is still getting better.

[Pajarita]

Ditto here, so glad he is doing better! And, yes, I know of the vet website. Vibramycin is the brand name for doxycycline which is an antibiotic used for the treatment of respiratories (as well as chlamydiosis) but the only time I've heard of an animal getting both enrofloxacin AND doxycycline together is for rats with chronic mycoplasma. Isn't he concerned about him getting a crop yeast infection or diarrhea from them? Because the combination of both will most definitely kill all the beneficial bacteria he has anywhere in his body so I suggest you treat him with a good probiotic (find the one with the most number of strains) two hours after each dosage of antibiotic (he is getting them twice a day, right?).

Have you figured out why he was so stressed out that he ended up so sick? Is it possible that you are trick training him when he is just a baby? Is he clipped? Diet? Human light schedule? Out for walks? Maybe a combination of two or more of them?

[Hookturn]

Thus is again for all the input. Back to the vet today. I should also be getting copies of his test results from last week. As for the stress issues I just don't know. Solar schedule, gloop, and when it was warm I would take him out in the backyard but only for a few minutes a day. As for the training i was only doing a few minute a day and it was sime stuff like stepping up, and coming to me. And again, he is clipped but he came to me that way.

What sort of probiotic should I use? And where would I get it? Thanks again!

[Pajarita]

I get the human one (the dog, cat and bird ones are all human strains anyway) with the most number of strains (I always try to make it more than 10, if possible) and in capsules. I get it either from Amazon (I have Amazon Prime so I get free 2 day shipping on everything) or from the drugstore (if I see something on sale that fits the requirements -sometimes they have them at half price because they are expiring soon but it's fine for me because I use them with some of my birds and one cat every day -liver damage and chronic pancreatitis- and with all my birds, dogs and cats periodically so they are all gone before the actual expiration day). I don't think it pays to be picky as a bacteria strain is a bacteria strain regardless of the brand name.